“I have seen my divine Father, Osiris,” thundered the great tones. “I have scattered the gloom of the night. I have burst through the earth, and am one with the starry Deities!”
Something grand came into the soldier’s face. He was staring fixedly before him, as though seeing nothing.
“Watch,” whispered Dr. Silence in my ear, and his whisper seemed to come from very far away.
Again the mouth opened and the awesome voice issued forth.
“Thoth,” it boomed, “has loosened the bandages of Set which fettered my mouth. I have taken my place in the great winds of heaven.”
I heard the little wind of night, with its mournful voice of ages, sighing round the walls and over the roof.
“Listen!” came from the doctor at my side, and the thunder of the voice continued—
“I have hidden myself with you, O ye stars that never diminish. I remember my name—in—the—House—of—Fire!”
The voice ceased and the sound died away. Something about the face and figure of Colonel Wragge relaxed, I thought. The terrible look passed from his face. The Being that obsessed him was gone.
“The great Ritual,” said Dr. Silence aside to me, very low, “the Book of the Dead. Now it’s leaving him. Soon the blood will fashion it a body.”